Halloween comes to kids at Dell Children's Medical Center

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Instead of children hitting the streets to trick-or-treat in the streets, the spookiness and sweet treats of the holiday came to the kids at Dell Children's Medical Center.

• Photos: Spooktacular time at Dell Children's

First Warning Weather Meteorologist Mark Monstrola, Traffic Reporter Amanda Dugan and Digital Reporter Jackie Vega were on hand Halloween Eve to pass out goodies to children and their families at the medical center.

Dressed as a hot dog, baseball player and sheep, they greeted the eager children and supportive parents with stickers, pencils, sparkly notepads and treats of all shapes and sizes.

And the KXAN News crew was among the many other groups -- mainly the very involved medical center staff -- that lined the hallways with Halloween treats to pass out to the children and siblings spending their days inside the facility instead of being outside.

The H-E-B family, former University of Texas Longhorn football player Eddie Jones and country music sensation and "The Voice" contestant Curtis Grimes were a few of the stars to make the trick-or-treating extra special.

Meanwhile, Dell Children's Medical Center is in the process of building a new tower that will increase their capacity by 75 beds by May 2013. The building currently has 175.

There will also be room for a new, inpatient rehabilitation center; a bigger building means they're going to need more employees. Seton plans to hire 200 more people.

The team of specialists at the medical center care for children between premature age and all the way up to 25 years old.

Ronald McDonald Family Room

Near Dell Children's Medical Center sits the new Ronald McDonald Family Room, at St. David's Medical Center.

The 1,300-square-foot space -- which opened June 29 -- boasts a kitchen area with snacks to be provided by the hospital, an office, a living area with a flat screen TV and four bedrooms.

Instead of building a new facility for parents and family of sick kids, a new home-style "family room" is geared for parents who have babies inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. David's Medical Center who have no place to go to get away from that stress.